E3 2011: The Captain America Game Still Looks 'Meh'

Share.

Months later, Super Soldier still isn't looking so hot.

By Greg Miller

So, I'm walking through a SEGA event that has all of the company's E3 titles, and I catch a glimpse of Captain America: Super Soldier. I drink it in for a second and breathe a sigh of relief -- this is the same demo I saw a few months ago; I won't have to write it up. Then, a producer on the title spots me and says he's excited to show me some new stuff, and I do a double take at the screen. Yes, this is new content from the Captain America game, but it look exactly like the underwhelming stuff I saw before. That's bad.

If you missed that March preview, Captain America: Super Soldier is a third-person game based in the universe of the upcoming blockbuster movie Captain America: The First Avenger. The game fills in Steve Rogers' early days as Captain America -- something the movie glosses over. Cap's infiltrated the Hydra HQ in Nazi scientist Arnim Zola's castle, and Cap's got to clear out the defenses for U.S. forces to move in.

The whole game is set to take place in this lair, and from the two demos I've seen, that means lots of brown walls and silver machines. That's what confused me at first glance. On top of Cap wailing on a bunch of dudes who look exactly like the dudes I saw before, everything looks the same. Combat in Captain America boils down to punches, kicks, and shield moves. You can throw the shield and direct it, pull off finishing knockout moves, and so on, but most of the time you're just ping ponging between enemies and laying them out.

The crescendo moment came when Baron Von Strucker marched into the room after Cap beat up enough guys and sabotaged enough electronics. Von Strucker rushed at Cap, and I had to tap a button to stop him from shocking me with his defibulator hand. Then, Cap would get in a few shots. Sadly, this exchange only knocked off a smidge of Von Strukcer's health, so the process had to be repeated again and again. When the health bar was empty, a cutscene took over and Cap and the villain tumbled at the screen. End of demo.

I wasn't too high on Captain America: Super Soldier the first time I saw it, and this follow-up didn't do much more for me. The fact that the environments and action look so similar is a huge letdown, but it doesn't help that the game still feels like a run of the mill third-person adventure.